Attention

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent our advertisers

Monday, August 07, 2017

Trump Immigration Crackdown Leads to Higher Construction Wages

President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration is already having a positive impact on American workers through increased wages in the construction industry.

In a new report by Fox News, Texas construction companies admitted that Trump’s increased enforcement of immigration was forcing them to pay higher wages to U.S. construction workers:

“Half of the workers in construction in Texas are undocumented,” [Stan Marek, CEO of Marek Construction] said. “We do hear that there are a lot of undocumented workers that are leaving the state, going to other states that don’t have the anti-immigrant sentiment and many of them are going back to Mexico.”

Ted Wilson with Residential Strategies, Inc. has run the numbers.

“We’ve seen direct construction costs climb by over 30 percent,” Wilson said, “and a lot of that is directly attributed to what builders are having to pay their subs and trades in wages.”

Meaning, with so few workers out there, construction companies have had to pay more to attract them, which adds to the cost of a home.

The big business lobby and CEOs have long criticized Trump’s immigration crackdown, primarily because their businesses have a direct interest in keeping the pipeline of low-skilled foreign workers coming to the U.S. to drive down the cost of American wages.

More here

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Now a working man might have a chance to earn a fair wage!

Anonymous said...

I have been saying this for 20 years, that if you get rid of the illegal aliens then wages will go up. Not really a surprise just simple economics. Remember DEMOCRATS don't give a hoot about real working people. Also as hiring and wages go up then tax receipts will go up.

Anonymous said...

Having worked in the construction trades my whole life, I totally agree with 3:09. I think it is just outrageous that we pay illegals welfare, food stamps, "temporary" cash assistance and then they work under the table for cash. Their $8.00 per hr cash job probably gives them a NET income of $60 to $70 THOUSAND dollars and puts a CITIZEN on the welfare rolls.

OUTRAGEOUS !!!

Anonymous said...

Maybe more money will finally stay in the country.